SUNSHINE & LIFE

Dr. James C. JACKSON wrote:

"I think that it can be said that no living organism, whatever its species, having a brain, lungs, stomach,
intestines and spine, and which is kept in the shade, could not Manifest capacities equal to those which it
would have had it had developed to the Sun.
"Everywhere it can be seen that, for the same species, animals which live in the sun possess superior
qualities. This is as true of humans as of animals; Those who usually live in the Sun become vigorous. This is
not only true of the various parts of the body, but also of the intellectual faculties. "
The way in which sunlight is used to produce the resulting effects is not always well understood, and
several theories, including several ridiculous, have been advanced to explain its use. It seems to me that it
is used somewhat as vitamins are employed; As explained in the previous article, I consider it a catalyst and
its action as a catalysis. A catalyst is an agent or substance having the property of initiating a chemical
reaction without being itself transformed or destroyed during the course of the reaction.
General information
Most chemical changes familiar to the chemist require the presence of something that initiates the reaction.
Thus explosives need a shock to cause their explosion. If hydrogen and oxygen are mixed in the dark, they
do not combine. If they are brought together in the presence of light, they unite causing an explosion. The
photography is entirely based on the power that light has to cause a chemical change or reaction. It is
certain that plants and animals use this power which the light possesses.
Sunlight is vitally important in the nutritional processes of plants and animals. Perhaps we can not call it a
food, but we can at least see it as an accessory nutrient. Its role might seem somewhat similar, if not
identical, to that of vitamins.
One way or another, if sunlight were eliminated, all life would perish.
Physiological processes and photosynthesis
In the tropics, where sunlight is the most abundant, life exists in greater profusion. In other parts of the
earth, where the nights are longer than the days, and where the long winters prevail, life is completely
absent or consists of ill-developed forms.
Under the influence of light, plants excrete and absorb oxygen. The absorption of oxygen occurs
continuously, but its elimination takes place only when the plant is exposed to light. The leaves absorb
carbon dioxide from the air. They use carbon to produce starches and sugars, and release oxygen that can
be used again by animals.
Light allows plants to assimilate carbon dioxide and convert it into a vegetable substance.
The carbon dioxide is converted into formaldehyde which is polymerized into sugar by the action of light. A
carbohydrate is thus formed by a vegetable metabolism under the influence of light. Photosynthesis is the
production of carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water in parts of the plant containing chlorophyll and
exposed to sunlight - chlorophyll being the most important.
The light energy acting in the synthesis of carbohydrates has been identified as coming from the visible
spectrum. The red, orange and yellow rays are considered to play the most important role in the assimilation
of plants, while blue and violet show less synthetic energy. Green leaves absorb mostly red rays, and only
the absorbed rays are chemically active.
Herbert Shelton said :
"It is the red rays that make a green world; It is the red rays that make life possible, and the rosy cheeks
come from the red light hidden in the green leaf. " Starch of fruits and other plants, such as sugar cane and
beet, is processed into sugar by ripening. This conversion requires the action of light. Heat accomplishes
part of the work, but the perfect transformation of these sugars requires the intervention of ultraviolet rays.
Solar light and developments Sunlight is essential to the production of the green color (chlorophyll) leaves
and the many colors of flowers, stems, leaves and fruits. The beautiful colors of the flowers can not be
produced or finished without light. Solar light allows the dissociation of compounds and new syntheses The
phases of the catalysis process are presented in his work. It helps to transform one body to another. The
chemical effects of light are related to the process of photo-synthesis, photolysis, photo-polymerization,
photo-oxidation, reduction and photoisomerization. Examination of a leaf, made in the morning, reveals little
or no starch. After a few hours of exposure to the Sun, a large amount will be found, which increases with
the duration of exposure to the Sun. If two pieces of cork or cardboard are tightly pinned on either side of
the leaf, the part thus covered will be much whiter after a few days; And if the rest of the leaf is exposed to
the sun, an iodine test shows the presence of a lot of starch in the healthy green part, while the pale
(covered) part of the leaf contains little or no starch . Etiolation A plant kept away from light becomes
colorless, stunted and sickly. If exposed to the sun, it soon resumes its coloration, gives buds, leaves,
flowers, and fruits. Moss, mold and fungus are the only ones that can grow in a cellar. Any solar-free plant
dies or becomes sickly and colorless. If rays of light succeed in infiltrating through the screens that cover a
plant, the latter bends towards the light in order to receive the little understood but undeniable benefits of
light. If it does not succeed, it will wane and die. The shoot of the potato which germinates in a cellar, will be
as white as chalk and as tender as whitened celery, and the substance of the potato will be exhausted
without the formation of a new potato. Place the potato outdoors to receive light, and it will give green
leaves, its stems will become strong and vigorous, and it will give rise to new potatoes. Etiolation is the
change in the appearance and structure of the plant growing in the absence of light. There is no chlorophyll
in dicotyledons and etiolated monocotyledons; Its absence makes the yellow pigment appear. Red light,
which does not include blue or violet rays, causes etiolation, except for lack of chlorophyll. It is the most
refrangible part of the spectrum that determines the growth and structural changes of plants. Etiolation is
not restricted to monocotyledons and broadleaf weeds, but is also found in gymnosperms, ferns, mosses,
algae and fungi. Plants turn their leaves and flowers toward the Sun, and some, like the sunflower, follow the
Sun, apparently in order to expose to its rays the largest possible surface. Gaston BONNIER kept plants in
the dark, while subjecting them to high humidity and converted them into arctic plants. I draw the following
quotation from Otta CARQUE : "The many experiments that have been carried out so far to demonstrate the
beneficial effects of sunlight, that of John BLAYTON is the most remarkable and the most significant. "In
order to determine whether indirect or diffuse light has the same effect as direct sunlight, it chooses twelve
bean plants of the same variety and at the same stage of development. Then he planted them so that six
always received sunlight directly while the other six received only diffuse sunlight. In October the harvest
was carried out, and the beans exposed to the rays were in the proportion of 29 to 99, and in the case of
bean sacks of 1 to 3. "This result was not surprising, but the following year, When all plants from the same
seed were grown normally exposed to the sun, the surprising fact was that the seeds of plants previously
deprived of the Sun gave only half as much beans as in the preceding year; And in the fourth year they
flourished but did not reach maturity. "The loss of sunlight during one summer had weakened these plants to
such a degree that they would die at the end of four years." This series of experiments shows that the
absence of sunlight affects the germ and is therefore a cause of racial degeneration. Plant growth Most of
the seed of a plant is the "basket" of the future plant, which is in the form of an embryo or germ. The adult
plants draw from the soil, water and air the raw materials that they transform into food, with the help of
sunlight. A whole apparatus of roots, green leaves and other organs are necessary to do this. The small plant
that emerges from the seed or emerges from the ground is not yet equipped, so that a few days must pass
before it is able to develop its own nature from raw materials, and self-sufficiency. The seed is a food store
for the embryonic plant, just as the egg is a food store for the embryonic bird, and just as the bird could
never grow If his food had not been prepared beforehand. Similarly, also, if the small plant did not have its
food prepared for its embryonic period, it would die. The amount of food available is sufficient to last the
time necessary to form its necessary equipment of roots, leaves, etc. When we consider the long and
innumerable roots that a plank of squash or wheat spur needs to extract calcium, sulfur, iodine, potassium,
sodium, magnesium, etc., from the moist earth that Environment, we realize the structure needed to be able
to take nutrients from the soil. Let us then consider the immense surface which these plants and others
expose to the Sun and air by means of their leaves in order to "extract" from the air the elements necessary
to convert the elements drawn from the soil and those contained In the air, of substances that can be
assimilated by the plant, and we then begin to understand why seeds are "shopping baskets" for embryonic
plants. They are not able to use the elements taken from the ground as long as their leaves, allowing them
to use sunlight, have not developed.